Bruins’ defense, Terrell sparks blowout win

Published 8:00 pm Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Northwest Whitfield High School’s boys basketball team usually doesn’t have any problem scoring. The Bruins offense can be prolific, but the problem was in the first half of the season it often had to be to win.

The Bruins’ defense has been a point of emphasis in recent weeks and Tuesday night’s game against Ridgeland provided coach Ryan Richards both cause for optimism and proof that there is still work to be done. But one bad quarter wasn’t enough to hold back Northwest from a 79-56 victory behind 25 points from senior Grant Terrell.

“You’re never happy with defense, it always can be tighter and tougher,” Richards said. “The second quarter (Ridgeland) made some plays and hit some tough shots and I told our guys at halftime that we have to do a better job taking charges and to keep working on the defensive glass. We got tore up there for a little while and those things have to keep getting better.”

The Bruins (11-5, 6-1) started off hot and built a 9-0 lead in the first few minutes. The defense forced six first quarter turnovers and Northwest won the rebounding battle 10-6, helping it build a 23-11 lead.

The second quarter is where things started to go wrong as the Bruins gave up offensive rebounds and forced just three turnovers. The result was a 18-7 run to end the quarter for Ridgeland and a 39-33 lead at halftime for the Bruins.

“When our defense is stagnant, the offense tends to be a little slower too,” Terrell said. “But when we have some energy and are getting steals and making big plays on loose balls, we get the offense going better.”

After a pair of Ridgeland free throws cut the lead down to just four to start the third quarter, Terrell caught fire as he hit three consecutive 3-pointers to put the lead back at eight. Then the defense kept the rally going as consecutive steals by Paxton Pardee and Luke Shiflett led to transition baskets and another Terrell 3-pointer stretched the lead out to 56-40 and ended an 11-0 run.

Northwest ended the quarter up 61-42.

“The third quarter was good for us,” Richards said. “Of course, Grant got hot and hit four threes, but our defense got some steals and we got flowing a bit in transition. We did a good job executing in the half court to get Grant some good looks. The team is doing a better job of recognizing when he’s hot and getting him the ball.”

Shiflett added seven points in the fourth quarter to finish the game with 18 points and help the Bruins ease to a comfortable win. He also had nine rebounds, four assists and four steals.

The win was the third in a row for the Bruins and secured their spot alone in first place in the Region 6-4A standings. Richards knows that if the team continues to make progress in rebounding and defense, then it could be a special last few weeks of the season.